If you wear a self-winding watch—which uses your natural motions for power—you might notice that it stops working if it’s left off your wrist for too long. To avoid these situations, watch winders are available to turn them automatically, but tend to either be very expensive, or cheap and noisy.
With a bit of hacking, however, Kristopher Marciniak was able to get the best of both worlds. He replaced the stock motor of an inexpensive winder with a stepper, and used an Arduino along with a Trinamic SilentStepStick driver for silent and well-controlled movement.
The result is a device that rotates quietly as programmed, then stops in exactly the desired position.
Aside from all the product announcements at Bett, we’re excited to unveil a new annual initiative from the Arduino Education team to keep the community up-to-date on contests and exhibitions, suggest experiments, and highlight educational products and events of relevance within a selected topic.
The Arduino Education thematic years calendar is a unique way to involve our passionate educators and students, and work together to achieve something on a much larger scale.
For 2019, we have decided to take our efforts from the classroom to outer space.
2019 Is the Year of Space
Educators from all over the world have been using space as a context to build inspirational education resources. Different space agencies, through dissemination activities, have reached out to schools and universities trying to inspire students to become the next generation of scientists and engineers. Robots, satellites the size of a soda can, radio communication systems, weather monitoring devices, maps, amongst others, are examples of projects from those who want to bring the topic of space closer to the classroom. Arduino plays a major role in this, and therefore we want to contribute to the development and dissemination of future space scientists.
A Calendar of Activities
The Arduino Education thematic year calendar is not written in stone. We, in collaboration with a series of stakeholders, suggest a point of departure, but we will welcome your contributions. Please send us your event proposals via email to space.year@arduino.cc and we will share them. If you would like to make an announcement for an upcoming workshop, event, course, or if you are looking for partners to do so in your region, we will use the Arduino forum as a public way to discuss the possibilities.
Each thematic year will see the direct involvement of the community, both in proposing/running events related to the chosen topic and to select the theme for the following year. For starters, here is a brief snapshot of planned activities in the months to come:
January
Official announcement at BETT London
Balloon launching in Malmö, Sweden
February
Balloon launching in Soria, Spain with Fundación Trilema
Arduino instrumentation course for space experiments at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden
The Arduino Certification Program (ACP) is an Arduino initiative to officially certify Arduino users at different levels and evaluate their expertise in key Arduino knowledge areas. Certifications are offered at three tiers — enthusiasts, educators and professionals — which have been identified as the largest Arduino user groups through extensive feedback from the community.
The first step, the Arduino Certification: Fundamentals Exam, is a structured way to enhance and validate your Arduino skills, and receive official recognition as you progress. Anyone interested in engaging with Arduino through a process that involves study, practice, and project building is encouraged to pursue this official certificate.
Developed in consultation with leading technology curriculum, interaction design, and electronic engineering professionals, the Arduino Certification: Fundamentals Exam assesses skills based on exercises consisting of practical tasks from the Arduino Starter Kit.
The official assessment covers three main key areas: theory and introduction to Arduino, electronics, and coding.
During the exam, you will be asked to answer 36 questions of varied format and difficulty, which should take approximately 75 minutes to complete.
Questions will test your knowledge on, but will not be limited to, the following topics:
Introduction to Arduino: Physical computing and Arduino, Arduino Uno, Arduino IDE and uploading, programming basics, electronics concepts, blink!, and the breadboard.
Sensors and Actuator: Sensors, actuators, as well as digital and analog input/output.
Input and Output Types: Using serial monitor, LEDs, motors, piezo as input/output, switches, variable resistors, IR, and PIR.
The Arduino Certification: Fundamentals Exam is currently on display at Bett 2019. Stop by stand C375 to see a demo for yourself and learn more about the program!
Back in December, we received an email from a university student named Lucrezia Alfonsi regarding her dissertation research. Lucrezia’s goal is to to understand what motivates our community to use Arduino, share knowledge, and produce open source innovations. Not only would we love to help Lucrezia, we always like hearing about our users’ involvement with open hardware and software.
The survey, which can be found here, will be up until February 20th and the results will be posted later on our blog. By answering Lucrezia’s report, we hope to provide our community with rich insights into the experiences and inspirations of our users.
Hi, I’m Lucrezia Alfonsi, a Bocconi University MSc student. Right now, I’m writing my MSc thesis and I would like to ask your help completing the survey I have prepared for last research steps – it takes only 10 minutes, the data are anonymously tracked and the results will be elaborated only for academic purposes.
“I strongly believe in ‘doing well, by doing good’ and I immediately associate this with the motivation that moves Arduino Community members to improve and innovate everyday”; this is what I think, how I started my email to Arduino, and why I decided to focus my thesis on individual attitudes and motivational factors that lead open-source software and hardware communities, like Arduino Community. This is my genuine interest in the new and the right moment to challenge it.
Here, you can find the direct link to the questionnaire I built appropriately; I think this research can give something interesting back. Feel free to take a look and decide if you would like to bring your precious contribution.
The Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab, developed in collaboration with Google, is the first official Arduino kit designed for middle school curriculum.
The Arduino Education Science Kit Physics Lab provides middle schoolers (ages 11 to 14) with a hands-on experience, enabling them to explore forces, motion, and conductivity with their classmates. Students can make their own hypothesis like a real scientist, then check their assumptions, and log data thanks to Google’s Science Journal app — a digital notebook for conducting and documenting science experiments using the unique capabilities of their own devices.
The kit, based on the MKR WiFi 1010, includes a range of sensors to measure light, temperature, motion, and magnetic fields, as well as a set of props and full access to online course content for teachers and students to conduct nine exciting science projects inspired by popular fairground rides like the Gravitron and Pirate Ship.
“The Arduino Science Kit is perfect for developing transferable skills such as critical thinking and problem solving through an inquiry-based learning approach. The projects featured in the kit have been aligned with several National curricula including the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) for K-12, and the National UK Curriculum, so teachers can be assured that the Physics Lab is not only easy to set up and fun to use, but also contains all the necessary lesson plans and physical experiments for students to actively engage with their learning.” – David Cuartielles
With the Physics Lab, no prior electronics knowledge is required. Students simply upload their sketch onto an Arduino board using Arduino Create for Chromebook, connect their Android mobile device to the board, build their project, and then use the onboard sensor and plug-and-play modules to simulate the rides’ dynamics. Data is transmitted from the experiment to the student’s mobile device via Bluetooth, where they can analyse and record their results in Google’s Science Journal App or worksheets.
The Arduino Education Science Kit Physics Lab isn’t confined to the classroom. In fact, students can use the kit outdoors to turn the playground into their very own fairground by applying the concepts they’ve learned to design and test their own rides.
The Arduino Education Science Kit Physics Lab comes in a handy storage box for later use, along with the MKR WiFi 1010 and all the parts needed to assemble and carry out the experiments. It will be coming soon to the Arduino Store and available globally starting in March 2019.
The Arduino Education team is returning to the Bett Show this week, where you can expect to find our latest products and programs for empowering students and teachers alike.
This year, we’re further strengthening our STEAM-focused offerings across the spectrum with the first-ever kit for middle schoolers, the Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab, developed in partnership with Google; the introductory module of the official Arduino Certification Program; a new addition to the Arduino Creative Technologies in the Classroom lineup, CTC GO!; and a thematic annual initiative which will kick off in 2019 with ‘Arduino and Space’ for the entire global education community.
Those visiting our stand (C375) will also have a chance to learn more about the Arduino CTC 101 program and Arduino Engineering Kit, both of are being successfully deployed in classrooms throughout the world.
Arduino and Google: A New Collaboration for Scientific Exploration
The Arduino Education Science Kit Physics Lab, our first kit targeted at middle schoolers, provides children ages 11 to 14 with a hands-on experience, enabling them to explore forces, motion, and conductivity with their classmates. Students can form their own hypothesis like a real scientist, then check their assumptions, and log data thanks to Google’s Science Journal app — a digital notebook for conducting and documenting science experiments using the unique capabilities of their own devices.
The kit, based on the MKR WiFi 1010, features a range of sensors to measure light, temperature, motion, and magnetic fields; plus it comes with a set of props and full access to online course content for teachers and students to conduct nine exciting science projects inspired by popular fairground rides like the Gravitron and Pirate Ship.
Take Your Arduino Skills to the Next Level and Become Certifie
The Arduino Certification: Fundamentals Exam is a structured way to enhance and validate your Arduino skills, and receive official recognition as you progress. Anyone interested in engaging with Arduino through a process that involves study, practice, and project building is encouraged to pursue this official certificate.
Developed in consultation with leading technology curriculum, interaction design, and electronic engineering professionals, the Arduino Certification: Fundamentals certification assesses skills based on exercises consisting of practical tasks from the Arduino Starter Kit.
The official assessment covers three main key areas: theory and introduction to Arduino, electronics, and coding.
Ready, Set, GO!
CTC GO! is the newest member of Arduino’s Creative Technologies in the Classroom lineup. The program consists of a series of modules which can be combined to teach various STEAM subjects to fit with different educational paths.
The core module — which is the foundation of CTC GO! — is now available, while an assortment of expansion modules will be launched sequentially from 2019 to 2021. These include a motion module, a wireless module, and math module, all of which will contain new materials, content, and educators training / support.
CTC GO! has been designed around the recently announced Arduino Uno WiFi, our most powerful board for education. The board maintains the simplicity of the standard Uno with the incorporation of WiFi so students can learn about wireless technology and begin creating their own IoT projects.
Through the project-based learning (PBL) methodology, CTC GO! introduces students to basic concepts via a series of playful, well-documented projects and easy-to-assemble experiments.
CTC GO! also provides premium training and support for educators through online videos, webinars, and expert-answered emails.
Space: The Next Frontier of Education
The human exploration of space has inspired endless projects within the STEAM community, many of which leveraging the Arduino platform. David Cuartielles, Arduino Co-Founder and Education CTO, took the Bett stage (Post 16 Theatre) on Wednesday morning to discuss innovative ways to engage students inside (and outside) the classroom.
This session showcased the work of master students from the Space Department at Sweden’s Lulea University and their machines that extract water from the cold air of Mars; educational robots from the German Space Agency (DLR); and CanSats made by K12 students in Aguascalientes, Mexico, among others. During the talk, David and Electronic Cats CanSat’s Andres Sabas shared how they were able to get college students to program and launch 40 small satellites using open source hardware and aerostatic balloons.
For an easy plotter design that you can build with only simple hand tools, be sure to check out this tiny project from Mr Innovative. The machine features a pair of stepper and lead screw assemblies to maneuver a pen in an X/Y plane, along with a clever string and servo setup to handle retraction.
An Arduino Nano and two L293D ICs mounted to a custom PCB are used to control the device, though a breadboard could certainly substitute for the PCB in a pinch. Drawings are translated into the proper format via Inkscape and Processing.
Bryan Kevan wanted to build his own bicycle, but wasn’t satisfied with purchasing a frame—or even ready-made tubing. He instead chose to create the frame from raw strands of carbon fiber.
The overall bike build is shown here, which necessitated him designing a variety of jigs, including a CNC wrapping machine.
His device uses an Arduino Uno, along with a pair of driver boards, to carefully roll strands of carbon fiber on a PVC mandrel in an overlapping pattern. Epoxy was dripped on the assembly during the process, resulting in CF rods that were lighter and much cheaper than purchased rods.
After quite a bit more work assembling everything together, Kevan now has a bike frame that is truly made to his specs!
Seating charts at weddings and other formal events are usually handled by small cards at each table, but Gabrielle Martinfortier had other plans.
For her big event, she along with help from her now-husband and friends constructed a seating arrangement on a 3’ x 4’ wood canvas, equipped with a 7” TFT display and an RFID reader. An Arduino Mega serves as the brains of the device, taking advantage of its expanded IO capabilities to control an LED assembly over each table on the chart.
Wedding guests simply had to present the card they received with the invitation, then their proper table was lit. As seen in the video below, this eliminated seating confusion, and provided a bit of extra entertainment for those involved.
I wanted to make something special for my wedding tables chart, and I thought this was a good way of making it personal, as it reflects my love (addiction) for electronic projects.
So the plan was to make a big wood panel with the plan of the room on it, including, of course, the tables and their names (they are plant names, in French). The guests received a card with an RFID sticker on it along with their invitation. On the back of the card was written (in French) something like “This card is of great importance, keep it safe and carry it on you at the wedding.” I didn’t want them to know what it was for until the wedding.
The chart has several elements a TFT display, an RFID reader, a green LED and a red LED, a push button and one strip of 3 LEDs for each table. When the RFID tags are scanned, the green LED turns on if it is recognized, and a personalized message is displayed on the screen, including the name of the table where the guest is seated. In addition, the LED strip associated with the table is turned on, shedding light on the table on the room’s plan. If the card is misread or unrecognized, the red LED is turned on with an “access denied” message on the screen. The button is for those who did not succeed in not losing or forgetting the card. It displays a message on the screen, asking them to go to the bar and say something like “I am not reliable,” in exchange of which they get a backup chart to find their seat.
I changed a few things along the way: I wanted to paint the wood panel but changed my mind because I was scared I’d make a mess and have to start over with a new panel. Since I have a circuit machine I decided to make the writings and drawings with vinyl.
I also had a 20×04 character LCD screen in the beginning, but I upgraded to a 7″ TFT screen because it’s bigger and not as limiting in terms of message length.
Normally, boiling an egg involves heating water in a saucepan, then dropping an egg inside to be properly heated. James Bruton, however, now has a bit of help in the form of his breakfast-making robot.
The device uses two servos, along with a motor/encoder/screw assembly to rotate and lower the egg into place. It then takes it out after six minutes, and tips it out into a secondary container.
As of now, temperature is manually controlled, but it’s tracked with a DS18B20 temperature sensor to initiate the egg lowering procedure. An Arduino Uno takes care of the lifting screw assembly, while an Arduino Mega handles everything else.
